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Hooks for kids

Posted in 'Clutter, Organising' on November 11, 2009

When my kids were babies, I asked my husband to put some hooks up in their rooms so that we could hang their hats and dressing gowns etc on them and keep them off the floor. Not wanting to have to put more holes in the walls as they got older, we reasoned that putting them up higher would stop them from pulling all of their hats off and throwing them on the floor.

What we failed to realise was that as they got a bit older (they are now 3 & 5) we would want them to be able to go and get their own hats before playing outside and then to hang them back on their hooks when they were done. Miss 5 is just tall enough to reach her hats now, (although she has pulled so hard sometimes she has pulled the anchors out of the wall), but Mr 3 is still a bit too short. So being children of a (mostly) organised person, they have started hanging their hats on the corner of their washing baskets. Great idea, but more often than not, they are ending up inside the washing basket with their dirty clothes and then I get "Mummy, I can't find my hat"

Recently though, I came across some new hooks by 3M - they are Disney/Pixar characters and they are the hooks that you can stick on and remove without any damage or residue. They will hold about 2 1/2kg You can check them out here There are 7 different designs to choose from. You can find them at Big W & KMart. I'll be heading out on the weekend to buy a few for the kids. Hopefully this will see the end of lost hats that are hiding with the dirty washing :)

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Tip of the Week - Envelope Tip

Imagine this, you are writing your Christmas card to Grandma who lives in Spain. You finish writing, get the kids to write their names, seal the envelope and put the stamp on. All done.

WAIT!

You forgot to put the photos in from your last holiday so she can see how much the kids have grown. You don't want to rip open the envelope, because you have already put the stamp on and that would be a waste. So what do you do?

Stick it in the freezer. Yes you read right. Stick the envelope in the freezer for an hour or two and then the envelope will unseal without tearing. Pop your photos in, seal it up, and drop it in the mail box.

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Beautiful isn't always better

Posted in 'Clutter' on November 19, 2009

Last year I was helping a client move out of her office and she offered me an entire range of desk accessories - in trays, magazine holders, file storage, little boxes with lids. You name it, she had it. They were only about 12 months old and barely used - we had bought them when she first moved into the office. They were a lovely gold colour and I immediately conjured up a whole range of uses for them.

The first thing I did when I got home with them was to throw out my old in-trays. They were the cheap black plastic type that I had bought years ago and they weren't all that attractive. Then I moved all of my magazines into the magazine holders and added a couple more to the book case for just in case. The rest of the accessories were placed in different areas around my office. SOme of them used, some not.

About 3 weeks later I noticed that my office had never been.....messier! It felt cluttered. There was stuff everywhere and I didn't like it. Although the idea of having all of these beautiful looking accessories to make my office look tidier was lovely, in reality, it was a bad idea.

The in-trays were too small. They didn't fit my notepads or half of the things I needed to keep in them. So everything end up covering my desk and my beautiful in-trays say empty.

The magazine racks worked for the ones that were full, but the extras were just taking up space in my book case causing me to stack books on top of each other.

The file storage made my files look tidy because they were hidden away, but they were a pain because I needed to access them on a regular basis.

So I got rid of it all (except a couple of the magazine racks that were being used). I bought some new black plastic in-trays (I took my notebook with me to make sure they would fit first) and now my desk, although it isn't all colour coordinated, is tidy and uncluttered.

The moral of my story is, think about how practical something is before you buy it.